One-and-a-half down, a few to go

So I accomplished the first thing on the list of stuff I wrote yesterday: I have a contract starting in May. I don't have all the details yet, but it involves converting a DB2 data extraction program in C++ to some other language -- guess what I'd like to use -- and making it run faster. (When I asked how long it takes now, they said, "Forever.") Doesn't sound difficult, so I figure there must be some complicating factor. In any case, I've worked with the project manager many times in the past, and I'm getting my full rate. The main client location is pretty far from where I live, but three days a week I can VPN in from a remote site about 12 miles from my house. Couldn't ask for much more.

With that out of the way, I started on my toy project, to improve my little CGI for managing company receivables. I went from a CGI with HTML shortcuts to using HTML::Template (nice stuff), and now I'm adding CSS to it. It's a nice separation: logic and data extraction in one place, layout in another, and appearance tweaks in another.

On another item, I did download the Parrot code and compile it, but I'm still having trouble without a "roadmap" document, one that says "This is the forest, those are the trees". I suppose that may well be something the project needs, so maybe if I keep track of what I go through to figure out how the pieces fit together, I could contribute it back to them.

The thing I hadn't figured on is that I get tired very quickly. I guess when your body's rebulding tissue, it doesn't leave a whole lot of energy for other things....

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...it involves converting a DB2 data extraction program in C++ to some other language -- guess what I'd like to use -- and making it run faster. (When I asked how long it takes now, they said, "Forever.") Doesn't sound difficult, so I figure there must be some complicating factor.

Sounds suspiciously like a SQL issue, unless I've misunderstood what "data extraction" means. The fact that it's written in C++ wouldn't account for the "slowness", unless it was very poorly written.

Yah, the database is by far the biggest suspect: either the data model, or lack of proper indexes, or just crummy SQL, or something along those lines. But that's the low-hanging fruit, which supposedly has been picked already. So I wonder what other surprises are waiting.